PPP/C blames new Govt. for empty PetroCaribe Fund

– Freedom House behaving like bank robbers who accuse police of robbing the bank – Ramjattan
The People’s Progressive Party has charged that after less than a month in office, the new government has

PPP’s General Secretary, Clement Rohee

managed to empty the PetroCaribe Fund. It is responsible for hundreds of millions of dollars owed to rice farmers and millers, the PPP said.
The former ruling party made the startling counter claims against the coalition Government yesterday in defence of revelations that a bank account used to collect monies from oil sales supplied by neighbouring Venezuela has been “bankrupt”.
On Thursday, Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, disclosed that A Partnership For National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) administration discovered that there was no money in the account.
Under arrangements with Venezuela, Government has to deposit proceeds from oil sales. Some of the monies were to pay off the farmers and millers in the rice industry. With the permission of the Venezuelan Government some of the money was used to build a senior citizens’ home in West Berbice.
It was widely believed that millions of dollars were supposed to be in the account.
Responding to Harmon’s statements, the PPP/C said that he has brought the Office of the Presidency into “great disrepute by his lack of competence and his rapid descent into misrepresenting information. His press conferences are littered with inaccuracies and innuendoes and tendency to distort and misrepresent.”
The statement insisted that the PetroCaribe fund was managed in a transparent manner.
“The plain and simple truth is that for years the inflows and outflows of the Fund were managed optimally and transparently by the PPP/C government and within one month the APNU/AFC government has displayed

Vice President Khemraj Ramjattan

its incompetence in being unable to manage the Fund’s operations properly, resulting in hardship to the rice farmers and millers.”
PPP/C said that contrary to Harmon’s “misrepresentation” absolutely no money whatsoever is missing from the PetroCaribe Fund, and even if the fund has limited balances in it that does not mean in any way that any money is missing.
There exists detailed records that would reflect every single inflow and outflow from the fund. It will withstand scrutiny, the PPP said.
“Put simply, monies are deposited into the fund when Guyana imports oil from Venezuela under the PetroCaribe arrangement. Those monies are managed by the Bank of Guyana. The monies are utilised to fund projects that are included in the national budget and submitted to Parliament for approval.”
The Opposition party said that over the years, the projects have included the new GPL power plants at Kingston and Vreed-en-Hoop and the Hope Canal.
“Secondly, and more substantially, the funds are utilised to purchase rice and paddy for export to Venezuela under the PetroCaribe arrangement. At any time, the balance available in the fund is the total of all inflows deposited into the fund from oil imports, minus sums disbursed on projects, minus sums disbursed to GRDB (Guyana Rice Development Board) for rice and paddy purchases.”
PPP/C explained that periodically, Guyana and Venezuela would conclude a debt reduction agreement under which the latter cancels an amount of PetroCaribe debt previously owed by this country and equivalent to the value of rice and paddy shipped in the immediately preceding period.
“This is clear enough for everyone to understand. Yet, Harmon deliberately sets about creating a misleading impression that somehow something untoward may have occurred in the management of the fund.”
PPP/C warned that there is more to come because the APNU/AFC has already displayed its “lack of capability” to grapple with the challenging realities of managing the economy of Guyana.
The party claimed that the economy is already grinding to a halt as a result of mismanagement.” “After nine years of uninterrupted growth, one month of APNU/AFC misrule has already resulted in the economy starting to contract, and the entire business sector is already lamenting how bad business conditions are.”
The Opposition party, which had been in Government for 23 years before losing the May 11 General Elections in a close race, said that one simply has to wait for another few weeks more, before the electorate feels the brunt of the “great betrayal” when all of the 100 day promises made cannot be delivered.
“Just a few more weeks to go, and the greater electoral fraud committed by the APNU/AFC will be disclosed, the false promises on which they convinced people to vote for them and which they promptly betrayed once they secured those votes.”
PPP/C has refused to recognize the Government calling it a “de facto” administration and saying that the elections were rigged.
Yesterday, commenting of the PPP/C statement, Minister of National Security, Khemraj Ramjattan, said the spin on the situation is most disgusting and revolting.
“It is like robbers of a bank blaming the police for the heist. We will be issuing a detailed statement. Expect them to make more preposterous statements to defend all these shocking findings that are being unearthed.”